


little fire sleepy in the coals

by marcaskane (noblydonedonnanoble)



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:24:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/marcaskane
Summary: Riley found herself getting introspective as she and her friends headed into their sophomore year.





	

                Riley had been staring blankly into her smoothie for nearly half an hour when Farkle fell into the chair across from her.

                “Have you even moved from this spot since everyone left?” he asked.

                She jolted, and Farkle might have laughed if Riley’s expression hadn’t been so bewilderingly blank when she caught his eye. “What?”

                “I’ll take that as a no.” He glanced toward the counter. When he and the rest of the group had left the café earlier, Topanga had been working, and Riley had refused Maya’s offer to hang out by saying that she wanted to have a quiet night in with her family.

                “I think I’m just going to wait for my mom to finish and go home with her,” she had said.

                But at some point since then, Maya’s mother had taken Topanga’s place. So why was Riley still sitting there?

                “Not that I’m not happy to see you, Farkle, but what—”

                “I left my jacket here.” He paused briefly. “How about you?”

                Riley considered him, even opening her mouth to speak, but she stopped herself once… twice… “I don’t really know what I’m still doing here.”

                Farkle looked down at the table, twisting his hands in his lap. “Would you like me to leave you alone, then?”

                “No, no, you can stay.” That, at least, she seemed certain about. “I was just thinking, I’m sorry.”

                “But you didn’t make it to the bay window.”

                She couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t do all my thinking in the bay window.”

                “And you’re not talking it through with Maya.”

                “I don’t do all my thinking with Maya.”

                He smirked. “Okay. Would you… like to talk it through? Or keep sitting quietly?”

                They sat together in silence for an undiscernible period of time. Riley stared down at her smoothie, spinning it in her hands but still not drinking. But she didn’t ask Farkle to go away, so he lingered.

                “We’re starting our sophomore year tomorrow,” Riley told Farkle eventually. “And I guess that’s been making me think about our freshman year all over again, and where we were this time last year. A lot’s happened, don’t you think?”

                Farkle swallowed carefully. “Yeah. It’s almost like things are changing or something.”

                “Or something,” Riley agreed, her smile growing.

                He waited for her to elaborate. Again, it took her a few seconds, but she seemed more willing to speak now that she’d started. “I didn’t bring Maya back to the bay window because I don’t think I can talk to her about this. At least not yet. It’s just that I… it’s been six months today since Lucas and I broke up. Officially, I mean. I think we all know that it actually happened before that.”

                “Six months,” Farkle breathed. “Has it really been that long?”

                Riley nodded. “I feel like that’s weird, isn’t it? I don’t even… I hardly felt anything about it, but I still can tell you to the day when it happened.”

                Farkle kept his expression neutral as he told her, “I’ve never heard you talk about this before.”

                “That’s because I don’t. I can’t talk about how Lucas and I shouldn’t have dated, because everyone’s instinct will just be to point out—”

                “The good things that you learned,” Farkle told her. “I thought of that, but I know you probably have, too. I don’t understand, though. Why do you think it shouldn’t have happened?”

                She flexed her fingers, and, for just a moment, she curled her hands into fists. “After we went to Texas, it’s not that I didn’t have feelings for him anymore, but I think I knew from then on that he would never… that it wouldn’t…” Riley huffed, her eyes getting soft as she held Farkle’s gaze. “I guess I learned that I should trust my gut when I feel that way. So sure, it’s good that it happened, but I can’t help the feeling in my gut now: I regret it. The farther we get from our relationship, the more I know that he and I weren’t right for each other, and I…”

                Farkle tried not to give her an expectant look, but he eventually raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

                “I feel like I should have known myself better. When we ended things, my mom said some really nice things about how sometimes someone’s right in a moment but not right forever. And I know she meant well, but I don’t think Lucas was even right for me when we were together. We’d already missed our chance by then, and I should have known. I feel silly, Farkle.”

                “Don’t say that,” he murmured. “You have nothing to feel silly about. We’re kids, remember? This is when we’re supposed to get to know ourselves.”

                Riley actually giggled. “Thank you, Donnie Barnes.”

                And Farkle grinned. “Exactly.” But his face fell just slightly as he continued. “I have to say, though, I’m still a bit confused… Why can’t you talk to Maya about it?”

                “Because she’s another reason that I shouldn’t have dated him,” she whispered. “I don’t know if I want her to know just how much I regret it.”

                “Right.” He bit his lip. “Well, maybe this just feels redundant, but I agree with your mom. Lucas was right for you, even if all he did was show you one kind of person who’s not right for you. And Maya knows that. She’ll never begrudge you for it, even if you didn’t care—” His voice cracked. “Even if you didn’t care like you thought you did.”

                There was something in Farkle’s eyes that Riley was having difficulty processing, and she stared at him for quite some time. It didn’t take him long to shy away from her gaze, and he looked down at the table while she continued to assess him.

                “You’re right,” Riley agreed. “Not to say that I’m ready to talk to Maya about it, but… you’re right. Thank you.”

                She reached across the table and settled her hand over Farkle’s. Her touch was gentle, but as soon as her hand covered his, she frowned just slightly. Speaking more to their hands than to him, she said, “Farkle, you’re shaking.”

                “Am I?” He eased his hand out from under hers. Riley looked up to see that his expression was somewhat pained as he stared at the spot where she had just been holding him. “I guess I’m just cold… that air conditioning, right?”

                “The air conditioner’s been broken for nearly a week,” she reminded him.

                Farkle let out a barking laugh. “Yes, of course. How could I forget?”

                Riley was not sure how their dynamic had reversed, how suddenly she was the one waiting for something, but Farkle was now the one who seemed quite willing to sit in silence. Like her earlier, though, he wasn’t getting up to leave. “I don’t know,” she told him gently. “But Farkle?”

                “Mhm?” His eyes still trained themselves down, though he didn’t seem to be absorbing the pattern of the grain in the wood.

                “Since we’re… since we’re talking about timing, and about people being right for you—”

                “We are,” he agreed.

                Riley resisted the urge to laugh, all because she didn’t want Farkle to mistake it as her making fun of him. “I know that it’s only been a few months since you and Smackle broke up. I know she’s always been important to you, and that you might not even be in a place where you could think about going out with someone else. But if you are…”

                “If I am?” Farkle echoed, and now he did allow himself to look up and catch Riley’s eye.

                “What if now is the right time for us?”

                Farkle stared at Riley for what must have been at least ten seconds. When he answered, his lips quirked up and the first words to slip out of his mouth were, “My elementary and middle school self would have lost his mind if he heard you say that.”

                “But your sophomore in high school self?”

                “It still feels incredible,” he admitted, grinning wide and chuckling. “More real and more fantastical at the same time. Does that make any sense?”

                Riley didn’t mean to whisper, but when she spoke, her words were quiet. “Yes. So much sense.”

                They both blinked at each other. More silence passed between them, but it felt so much lighter now. And it was with patient, gentle eyes that Farkle said, “How about we get ourselves some new smoothies and talk about it some more while I walk you home?”

                “Sounds perfect.”

                As they stepped outside together, Riley hesitated for a brief moment before reaching out and linking their fingers together. He only reacted to fold their hands tightly.

                “You’re shaking,” Farkle said as they walked up the steps, and a bit of nervousness seeped through in his voice.

                Riley smiled and squeezed his hand quickly. “I’m just happy. This is… a good change, don’t you think?”

                “It’s a great change.”


End file.
